MAIN STORY: Baypark warned races are too loud

By Graham Skellern
Baypark Speedway has breached its permitted noise level during race meetings over the past six weeks - and the city council has given it a strong warning.
Tauranga City Council received public complaints during the meetings on January 7 and on January 26 - the first of three consecutive big nights involving the United States Outlaws sprint car drivers.
The warning comes as Outlaws promoters reveal they expect to financially break even from the otherwise successful $600,000 venture, despite less than half the expected crowd on the final night.
But the promoters are confident they are sticking to the conditions of the resource consent, saying there is a difference of opinion over the interpretation of the noise monitoring reports.
Terry Wynyard, the council's environmental services group manager, said latest reports had shown the speedway was "slightly over" the allowable noise level.
"Last season was very good and I know the speedway can comply. There have been a couple of trends emerging and they have to take a look at what they are doing differently this season and get things back on track," he said.
Mr Wynyard met Baypark Speedway management yesterday and they will have another meeting later this week in conjunction with Auckland acoustics expert John Quedley, who monitors the speedway meetings.
"We don't want any hassles and we want to work with the speedway. But there is a need to understand the methodology of measuring the sound," said Mr Wynyard. He is considering whether to issue an abatement notice over the latest breaches. If it's issued, Baypark Speedway has 15 days to fix the problem.
Mr Wynyard said the issue during the January 7 meeting was a noisy public address system, which had been sorted out.
The council received reports that on January 26 the sound of the racing cars at Te Maunga was heard as far away as Bethlehem. Three official complaints were logged.
Sharon Jackman, Baypark's chief executive, said that night was exceptional because of the overcast weather.
"There was a low damp cloud, everyone knows the level of noise is transmitted on a moist cloud layer and it will travel further than it normally does," she said. She said each season Baypark stages different events and hosts new drivers.
"They have to race first to see if they are over the noise level. If they are, they are warned and told to fix the problem. If they are over again, they are taken out of the racing. [Speedway organiser] Willie Kay is constantly blackflagging cars."
Mrs Jackman said Baypark wanted to comply with the noise level at all times, and "we believe we are. There are some differences on how the reports are being interpreted.
"Looking at one sector of the report - where there is a record of a noise spike - does not give an overall fair view," she said.
Under a noise management plan hammered out between the council and Baypark Speedway, both parties agreed monitoring would include averaging out the sound level over the whole meeting and taking into account weather conditions such as wind and cloud cover.
The noise level is limited to 55 decibels for 10 per cent of any period of measurement or 70 decibels for an instantaneous moment, for the residential zone north of State Highway 2 including Bayfair Estate and the marae at Mangatawa.
For other residential zones, the noise from the speedway is limited to 65 and 70 decibels respectively.
Meanwhile, Baypark Speedway has broken even on the Best of the Outlaws meetings, which cost more than $600,000 to run.
Mrs Jackman said all the accounts had yet to come in and "we might have made $20,000 ... that's okay. We were very happy with the event and we would like to run it again."
A final decision will be made within two months, when racing schedules and driver availabilities are known. A total of 25,000 people attended the three back-to-back meetings late last month. Baypark was hoping to fill its 20,000 seats on the finals night but only 9000 turned up.